‘Relief is on the way’ – Buhari re-assures Nigerians

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday expressed confidence that the nation would overcome the inconveniences caused by the prolonged shortage of petroleum products, and the collapse of the national grid.

In a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, President Buhari while apologizing to Nigerians, promised that “relief is on the way”.

He expressed sadness at the fact that Nigerians are experiencing at the moment something which he says his administration has successfully averted within its seven years in office.

“The government is working round the clock to attend to this issue. An action plan agreed earlier this month is being implemented to address the scarcity. Working together with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), this plan is now bearing fruit”, President Buhari said.

He informed that sufficient fuel supply has returned to a handful of states with reduced queues at stations falling, assuring that in the coming days, that would be the case across the rest of the country.

He continued, “Looking to the longer term, funds are being targeted toward keeping fuel availability affordable for the country. The international energy markets have surged drastically in recent months; the government will however ensure that consumers are protected against these price spikes”.

The President added that he has received information that some people are not behaving properly at the depots and among owners of petrol stations and in this regard, he has directed the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the NNPC and the entire security apparatus of the nation to take strong action against those responsible.

Reacting to electricity blackouts experienced across the nation, Buhari explained that the situation is also being addressed.

“A dip in hydroelectric generation due to seasonal pressures has coincided with technical and supply problems at thermal stations. On this, the government is also working tirelessly to resolve the issues at the latter to guarantee sufficient power flows into the national grid”.

The President disclosed that as part of emergency measures put in place following a meeting convened with key stakeholders to address the low power generation in the country, the main challenge was identified as being one of low gas power generation due to sabotage of gas pipelines leading to a shutdown of power plants coupled with ongoing routine maintenance on other gas power plants.

“To recover over 1000MW, actions were agreed upon between the players in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and also NNPC. The actions targeted the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) plants, (Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and power plants run under NNPC Joint Ventures, Agip and Shell (NAOC and SPDC) and progress on the key actions have already ensured the restoration to the grid of 375MW after the pipeline from “Okpai 1” was repaired.

“To also ramp up the underutilised capacity of the NDPHC capacity, a USD 50 Million Gas Supply agreement is being finalized to secure the sustainability of up to 800MW of underutilized NIPP assets,” he explained.

The President assured Nigerians that the government’s attention to these problems will bear fruits very soon.